A model of economic geography with demand pull and congestion costs

Abstract:
This paper proposes a simple model of economic geography in which to derive analytical results when jointly considering two centrifugal forces —congestion costs together with the pull demand effect— within the Dixit-Stiglitz-Iceberg framework. In this vein, we develop a unified model with labor mobility that combines some of the features of Tabuchi (1998) with those of Forslid and Ottaviano (2003). We analytically show that when considering the effects of congestion costs, dispersion of economic activity is possible not only at high but also at low transport costs. This result corroborates previous numerical simulations conducted by Tabuchi (1998).